Sheet piler



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SHEET PLEEI Filed DSG. 12920 12ML im 1945?) 11. W. MCWEMMMM@ SHEET PILE'R Film Dec. 12, 1945 Piensa use 20.1949

SHEET PILER John W. McWilliams, Birmingham to Tennessee Coal, Iron and Ala.. signor Railroad Cmpany, a corporation ol' Alabama Application December l2, 1945, Serial No. 634,540

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in mechanical sheet pilers and more particularly to mechanical pilers for long sheets.

Steel strip in coil form is rolled in hot strip and cold reduction mills in gauges and widths suitable for sheet products. In the manufacture of these sheet products, the coils are cut into specified lengths for further processing or for shipment. This necessitates collecting the cut sheets into piles to permit further handling or shipment. Heretofore, long sheets, which may be to 12 feet or more in length, have been generally stacked by hand though magnetic pilers have been proposed and used for such purpose. However, these magnetic pilers are rather intricate and accordingly expensive to build and operate. Mechanical pilers have heretofore been used for piling tin plate and the like, but so far as I am aware, there have been no mechanical pilers suitable for long sheets.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a mechanical piler which will eiiiciently stack long sheets.

It is a further object to provide a mechanical sheet piler which is simple in design and characterized by high operating efficiency.

'Ihe foregoing and further objects will become apparent from the following specicatlon, taken in conjunction with the attached drawings. wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan;

Figure 2 is a side elevation;

Figure 3 is a vertical section on line III-III of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged view showing the operation of the piler;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view of the chain; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail thereof.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 2 designates a piler having a frame composed of corner posts 4 connected by lungi tudinally extending upper rails G and lower rails l. Forward sprockets I0 and rearward sprockets I2 are mounted adjacent the top and bottom of the corner posts and carry endless chains I4. The chains are supported on angle irons I5 mounted on the rails 6 between the upper sprockets l0 and l2 to keep the chains level by preventing any sagging between the sprockets. Shaft I6 on which are mounted the upper forward sprockets IU carries a drive sprocket Il connected to a source of power (not shown).

Mounted between the chains I4 and normal to the line of travel thereof, are a plurality of suit- `through the heads of pins 30.

ably spaced bars 20, each of which carries a plurality of transversely and longitudinally aligned supporting and stripping fingers 22 suitably fixed or keyed thereto. The ngers 22 preferably have a hat top supporting surface 24, a rearward sloping surface 28 on the upper side thereof and a slanting lower surface 28 on the forward side. The upper surface 24 of the lingers 22 is preferably composed of nonabrasive material, such as polished steel or plastic, or may have a small roller disposed to contact the underside of sheets deposited thereon. The bars 20 are xed to the chains by means of pins 30 extending through hollow links 32 in the chains and into bores in the other ends of the bars. The pins 30 are rigidly held in the bars 20 by tapered pins 34. Tilting of the lingers 22 during straight travel is prevented and controlled during travel around the sprockets by keys 36, one end of which extends through hollow links 38, and the other end Due to this keying connection, the tilting of ngers 22 maintains the lineal speed of the carrier surface in coordnacarrier surfaces within the level pass line 40, this eliminating any kick-up of the lingers on the approaching sheet, such as would occur if the lingers were rigidly attached to a single chain link.

A stop member 42 extends transversely across the frame between the side members 6 adjacent the forward end of the frame and extends downwardly below the intermittently or continuously to hold sheets against its lower surface and prevent their passing the stop member 42. Longitudinally extending hold down bars 46 extend rearwardly from a point adjacent the magnetic member 42 to a point adjacent the rear end of the frame and guides 48` are provided for insuring the passage of the forward end of sheets under the plate 44.

Extending transversely of the frame above the pass line 40 is an air header 50 having spaced jets 52 along the bottom thereof. This is connected to a source of air under pressure and is adjustable longitudinally of the frame by a pivotally mounted arm 54 from which the header is suspended.

Extending through one side of the frame and beneath the pass line 40 is a roller conveyor 58. which is supported on an adjustable lil t 58. Side guides carried by screws 62 disposed above the roiler conveyor i are adjustable by means of hand-wheel 6l mounted on the rearward screw and connected to the forward screw by a shaft 6 and bevel gears i8. A fixed forward guide 'IB is disposed beneath the stop and an adjustable rearward guide l2 is suitably mounted at the rearward end of the piler.

Sheets S to be piled are conveyed to the piler by a suitable conveyor 8l.

In operation,` sheets S are fed to the piler 2 by the conveyor 80 and deposited on the upper surfaces 24 of the fingers 22 carried by the endless chains M.' The sheets are thus carried forwardly under the magnetic plate Il into contact with stop Il.Y Streams of compressed air from the jets i2 then depress the rearward end of the sheet so that itl engages the lower slanting surfaces 28 of the next approaching row of fingers 221. This causes the rearward end of the sheet to be deposited on the roller conveyor 56 between the guides B0, 'I0 and 12. As the row of fingers 22* advances, the sheet is progressively lowered onto the conveyors until the forward end is withdrawn from the plate 44 and allowed to drop therebelow. As succeeding sheets are so deposited, a neat stack or pile is thereby formed. y

From the foregoing, it is seen that I have provided a piler wherein the sheet is supported in its entire length prior to being piled. It avoids any buckling or cobbling of the sheets while being piled, which entails a saving of product and eliminates delays due to such causes. Moreover, this piler is economical to construct and operate.

While I have shown and described one specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this embodiment is merely fo:- the purpose of illustration and description and that varions other forms may be devised within the scope of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A sheet piler comprising a frame, oppositely disposed longitudinally extending trackways in said frame, a pair of endless chains carried by said frame and traveling on said trackways, a plurality of bars extending between and carried by said chains, a plurality of spaced fingers mounted on said bars, said fingers having sheet carrying upper surfaces and upwardly inclined lower surfaces on the forward sides thereof, means for rotating said chains. means for depcsiting sheets to be piled on said fingers, a stop member forwardly of said frame, and depressing means rearwardly of said frame for depressing Athe rearward end of a sheet on said fingers engaging said stop member.

2. A sheet piler comprismg a frame, oppositely disposed longitudinally extending trackways on said frame, a pair of endless chains carried by said frame and traveling on said trackways, a plurality of bars extending between and carried by said chains, a plurality of spaced longitudinally aligned fingers mounted on said bars, said lingers having sheet carrying upper surfaces and upwardly inclined lower surfaces on the forward sides thereof, means for rotating said chains, means for depositing sheets to be piled on said fingers, a stop member forwardly of said frame, and depressing means rearwardly of said frame for depressing the rearward end of a sheet on said ngers engaging said stop member.

3. A sheet piler vcomprising a frame, oppositely disposed longitudinally extending trackways in said frame, a pairof endless chains carried by said frame and traveling on said trackways, a

plurality of bars extending between and carried by said chains, a plurality of spaced fingers mounted on said bars, said fingers having sheet carrying upper surfaces and upwardly inclined lower surfaces on the forward sides thereof, means for rotating said chains, means for depositing sheets to be piled on said fingers, a stop member forwardly of said frame, depressing means rearwardly of said frame for depressing the rearward end of a sheet on said fingers engaging said stop member, and means for receiving sheets below said trackways.

4. A sheet piler comprising a frame, opposite- Iy disposed longitudinally extending trackways on said frame, a pair of endless chains carried by said frame and traveling on said trackways, a plurality of bars extending between and carried by said chains, a plurality of spaced longitudinally aligned fingers mounted on said bars, said fingers having sheet carrying upper surfaces and upwardly inclined lower surfaces on the forward sides.v thereof, means for rotating said chains, means for depositing sheets to be piled on said fingers, a stop member forwardly of said frame, depressing means rearwardly of said frame for depressing the rearward end of a sheet-on said lingers engaging said stop member, and means for receiving sheets below said trackways.

5. A sheet piler comprising laterally spaced trackways having forward and rearward ends longitudinally extending in a single plane, a pair of endless chains traveling on said trackways, spaced supporting members extending between and carried by said chains, means for rotating said chains, means for depositing sheets on said supporting members, a stop member at the forward end of said trackways, and means disposed above said chains at the rearward end of said trackways for depressing the rearward end of a sheet disposed on said supporting members and engaging said stop member.

6. A sheet piler comprising laterally spaced trackways having forward and rearward ends longitudinally extending in a single plane, a pair of endless chains traveling on said trackways, a plurality of bars extending between and carried` by said chains, a plurality of spaced fingers mounted on said bars, said fingers having sheet carrying upper surfaces and upwardly inclined lower surfaces on the forward sides thereof, means for rotating said chains, means for depositing sheets to be piled on said fingers, a stop member at the forward end of said trackways, and depressing means at the rearward end of said trackways for depressing the rearward end of a sheet disposed on said fingers and engaging said stop member whereby the depressed rearward end of the sheet will be engaged by the upwardly inclined surface of the fingers advancing therebehind.

'1. A sheet piler comprising laterally spaced trackways having forward and rearward ends longitudinally extending in a single plane, a pair of endless chains adapted to travel on said trackways, a plurality of bars extending between andcarried by said chains, a plurality of spaced fingers mounted on said bars, said fingers having sheet carrying upper surfaces and upwardly lnclined lower surfaces on the forward sides thereof, means for rotating said chains, means for depositing sheets to be piled on said fingers, astop member at the forward end of said trackways and depressing means at the rearward end of said trackways for depressing the rearward end of l ananas ofthe sheet will be engaged bythe upwardly inclined surface of the fingers advancing therebehind to remove the sheet from said chains and means below said trackways for receiving the re moved sheets.

8. A sheet piler comprising spaced endless bands having forward Y and rearward ends of travel, upper and lower portions of travel and adapted to move in a single plane through the upper portion of their travel, spaced transverse sheet-supporting members having upper and lower surfaces extending between and carried by said bands, means for rotating said endless bands. means for depositing sheets onto said sheet-supporting members, a stop member above said bands at the forward end of travel of said bands adapted to engage the forward end of sheets carried by said sheet-supporting members, sheet-depressing means at the rearward end of travel of said bands for depressing the rearward end of a sheet engaging said stop member, whereby the upper surface of such sheet is engageday the lower surface of a following sheet-supporting member.

JOHN W. McWlLLIAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record` in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

